


First Words

by joggerfive



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Gen, Gender-Neutral Runner Five, Mute Runner Five
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:53:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27714359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joggerfive/pseuds/joggerfive
Summary: A short fic about 5’s text-to-speech device and their first ‘words’ at Abel. Set in early Season 1.
Relationships: Runner Five & Sam Yao
Kudos: 6





	First Words

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this fic came from a headcanon that 5 is mute, and the voice saying ‘collected a [insert object that is probably a sports bra] here’ is from a device that 5 uses to communicate to whoever’s in the comms shack. I saw that headcanon on tumblr ages ago but I don’t remember who posted it first, so if it was you please let me know so I can give credit!
> 
> Also, speaking of tumblr, I posted this ages ago on there (@joggerfive), but I’m planning on writing some more ZR fic, so I thought I’d start an AO3 :) 
> 
> Anyway, long intro out of the way, hope you enjoy!

Runner Five gently knocked on the door of the comms shack and, upon hearing a cheerful ‘come in!’ from Sam, opened the door slowly. They were greeted with a grin from the operator, who leaned back in his chair to face them, causing a small screech from the metal when he did so.

“Hey, you’re here!” He greeted, “Ready for your first supply run?”

Five smiled and gave two thumbs up in response.

“Good! Okay, here is your headset.”

Five grabbed the chunky headset with both hands and inspected it with narrowed eyes, earning a chuckle from Sam.

“It’s not the best technology out there, but it means I’ll be able to communicate with you out there, which is… important…” He trailed off his sentence and looked slightly to the left of Five’s face, seemingly lost in thought for a moment. Five thought back to when they were running to Abel for the first time, and how Sam mentioned a previous Runner Five.

They waved in his eye line with a sympathetic smile, seemingly snapping him out of his daze.

“What next?” They signed.

“Right, sorry,” Sam mumbled, to which Five gave a small shrug, hoping it was enough to convey that it was alright and they understood. The resulting smile from the operator showed that he received the message loud and clear.

“Next, you’ll go to the armoury and pick up a weapon of your choice. That’s not really my department, but I suggest going with something small, since it’s a supply run and you’ll hopefully be bringing back lots of stuff in your backpack and you don’t want to be too weighed down.” Five gave a slow nod, considering what they would use when Sam’s voice interrupted their train of thought.

“Speaking of bringing stuff back, whenever you grab something, you’ll need to tell me what you’ve found so I can catalogue it.” He stated, causing Five’s eyes to widen slightly, “No, don’t worry, it’s not because we don’t trust you or anything, it’s just something we ask everyone to do to make sure that no-one’s hoarding supplies.”

Five tried to sign to Sam, but he continued, “We’ve had problems with that in the past, so Janine thought this was the best solution. And everyone has to do it, not just you because you’re new, because that wouldn’t be fair-”.

Five clapped once to snap Sam out of his rambling.

“What?” He asked, with a confused look.

Five raised their eyebrow at him, then sighed slightly when he didn’t seem to catch on.

“Can’t.” They signed.

“Oh!” Sam exclaimed, “Right, sorry.” His cheeks seemed to redden slightly as he scratched the back of his neck. “I didn’t… think of that. Sorry. Um…” He looked around the cramped comms shack, “I don’t know if I have anything that you could…”

Five smiled slightly at his flailing, then decided to put him out of his misery, “It’s okay,” they signed, “I can’t go out then?” They asked with a frown, but Sam perked up.

“No! No, you can still go out! On your way in, you were such a good runner, it would be a shame not to have you go out on runs.”

Five grinned at the compliment, then went back to a straight face, “What should I do?”

Sam paused in thought for a moment, “Um, I guess you don’t need to catalogue things then…”

Suddenly, a voice crackled to life from the computer on the desk.

“Well, that hardly seems fair, Sam.” Sara said firmly, causing both Sam and Five to startle slightly.

“Oh, Eight! You’re already down by the gates!” Sam said, turning his chair back to face the screens.

“Yes, I have been for a while. Just waiting for my partner, if they’re happy enough to grace me with their presence.” She replied, an obvious annoyed lilt present in her voice. Five rolled their eyes, making Sam suppress a laugh.

“I don’t think she likes me”, Five signed, with an amused expression.

Sam went to speak, then realised Sara was still listening in and signed in response instead, “She doesn’t like anyone at first.”

Five chuckled, but was promptly cut off by Eight’s voice booming around the shack once more, “Well, are they coming down, or are you two just going to keep gossiping?”

Sam quickly replied, “Yeah, they’ll meet you at the gate in just a second!”

“Thank you,” Five signed to Sam, turning to leave before quickly remembering the conversation they were having before they were interrupted, “What should I do if I find something?”

“Oh, yeah! Um…” He pursed his lips as he thought, “Well, for now, you’ve got Eight with you, so she can speak on your behalf to catalogue anything you find.”

Five cringed at the idea of asking Sara do a favour for them, but nodded when they realised that it was the best solution for the moment.

“I think I’ve got an idea, but I’ll let you know later. For now, go join Eight at the gates before she gets annoyed.”

“Too late!” Sara shouted, making Five sprint out of the door shack as fast as they could.

* * *

Days later, Five darted into the comms shack, grabbed a headset, waved to Sam and then turned to leave again.

“Wait, Five!”

They whipped around again at the sound of Sam’s voice, and were greeted by the sight of their radio operator grinning whilst holding out a small device with multi-coloured wires poking out of it.

“What?” Five signed, then pointed at the object with a confused look.

“It’s a text to speech device!” Sam said proudly, his smile dimming when he saw Five’s sceptical expression, “Okay, it’s a bit rough around the edges, but it still works!”

The door to the shack opened once more, with Jody and Simon walking in.

“What is that!?” Jody exclaimed excitedly, rushing up to Sam to attempt to take the object.

“No!” Sam said, spinning around 180 degrees in his office chair to get away from prying hands, “It’s not for you, it’s for Five. It’s so they can use it to communicate.”

“Oh, that’s so cool!” Jody grinned, successfully grabbing the device (prompting a small squeal of disapproval from Sam) and giving it to Five, “Go on then, say something!”

Five marvelled at the object in their hands with wonder, then looked up at Sam with a smile. He nodded, as if to grant permission for them to use it. They hesitated slightly, this would be the first proper thing they said at Abel, finally able to communicate with everyone. They began to type, “Thank you for bringing me into Abel and saving m-”

“Damn, Five, you don’t need to write a bloody essay!” Simon remarked with a smirk.

They glanced up from the small screen to deliver a glare to Simon, while deleting what they had previously written. They had a new idea for the first thing they wanted to say.

A robotic voice sounded from the small device.

“Shut up, Simon.”


End file.
